Coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,
commonly referred to as SARS-CoV-2. Coronavirus is also known as novel
coronavirus, which means it is a new strain of virus previously unknown to
virologists. The disease gets its number 19 from the year it was
discovered.

Transmission of Germs

It is factual that; your hands
are one of the main routes that viruses take to make their way from surfaces to
your respiratory system, so keeping surfaces clean is one of the most effective
things you can do to stop yourself contracting the virus. Wash your hands
thoroughly with soap and water for twenty seconds. If you can’t get to a sink,
an alcohol-based hand sanitiser will do the trick.

A question raises its head,
regarding the quality of sanitisers. Some have low alcohol content.
Medical grade sanitiser is over 70% alcohol (Ethanol or Isopropyl) this
substance is intended to destroy or make harmful organisms like bacteria and
viruses, including the coronavirus, inactive. The WHO (World Health
Organisation) recommend just that. According to the available evidence on
efficacy, tolerability and cost effectiveness, WHO recommends using an
alcohol-based hand rub (hand sanitiser) for routine hand antisepsis in most
clinical situations. It would logically follow that a high alcohol hand
sanitiser would be more than adequate for general usage by the general public
too.

Dr Clare Lanyon a biomedical
scientist from Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne was speaking
to The Telegraph after
conducting an experiment for the BBC programme, Trust Me I’m A Doctor, which
found “dramatic growth” of microbes within 12 hours of cleaning with
a regular kitchen surface with wipe.

This then raises the question
regarding the wipe itself. ‘are general surface wipes good enough to
protect us?’ Looking at general surface
wipes they are not only as effective as Dr Clare Lanyon states, but; they also
contain plastic, making most of them last for years instead of breaking down.

The Answer

PoshChemie® has a product sold by Trade Shop Direct, called Alcohol
Based Anti-Bacterial Surface Cleaner. This has an alcohol content of
73.4% minimum, which makes it medical grade. It can be sprayed onto hard
surfaces to kill 99.99% of bacteria and virus (including coronavirus) on the
surface. The surface can be wiped with a paper towel to dry if
required. Paper towels contain no plastic, so these are compostable, and
break down unlike the majority of general wipes.

Regardless of where we live in the world, we are all now
well aware of the new strain of Coronavirus (COVID-19) that is making its way
into all of our lives in one way or another.

While we don’t yet know all there is to know about this
virus, there are some very basic steps that we can take to help ensure that
ourselves, our families, workmates and people around us are as protected as
possible from coming into contact with, or spreading, this virus.

Not only that, but if we keep to our new hygiene regimes, we
will also help limit the spread of any other conditions such as colds and flus
etc.

Government guidelines are continuously changing and
updating, but the one constant piece of advice is that you must keep your hands
clean and avoid touching your face, eyes, nose or mouth.

Soap and water are the best way to keep your hands clean. Make sure you use a ‘hand-washing’ routine to ensure you get to every part of your hands and fingers. Singing a song to be sure you have spent enough time at the sink is a great idea. Staff may sometimes need a little prompt to keep up the routine regularly, so a poster informing them of the best way to wash their hands can help. Letting people know that you are on top of the situation, by placing a ‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it’ sign is also another great idea. Keep your staff and customers safe and informed.

If you do not have easy and regular access to a sink, you can use a hand sanitiser gel. Make sure that it is over 60% alcohol / Ethanol content, to ensure that it will be effective. A range of 70% medical grade sanitisers are available here.

We are all hoping that this latest outbreak will disappear as quickly as it has arrived, but if you do need any help with signage or sanitising hand gel, TradeShopDirect can help.

I am sure you have heard someone say that by clearing snow
and ice from your property leave you liable if a member of the public
subsequently slips over, well this is a myth, however like all myths it is
based on some truth.

If you are going to clear snow and ice you need to ensure
that you do not deposit the snow on a public footpath or on a road, as that is
illegal. You must also ensure that your method of clearing the snow and ice
will not result in the area becoming more dangerous, or you can be held liable.
If you were to clear the ice using hot water for example, that water will later
freeze and become black ice, making things more hazardous. As long as these
factors are taken into account there is no issue with snow and ice clearance.

If you are a business there is legislation to consider. The
Occupiers Liability Act 1975 (amended in 1984) obliges the owner or occupier of
private land to ensure safe access for staff and visitors. So, clearing the
snow and ice will ensure safe access as long as it is done thoughtfully and
sensibly using the correct products and equipment. In addition to the outside
of the building you need to keep in mind that Health & Safety at Work and
The Workplace regulations require you to ensure internal floors aren’t slippery
too.

Brown or White Gritting Salt will reduce the risk of slips

When it comes to gritting salt you have a choice of white or brown, the brown rock salt is what councils use on the roads and can cause a bit of a mess in your entrance. White salt is cleaner and ideal for pedestrian areas, leave the brown salt for vehicle areas such as car parks.

TradeShopDirect has a range of both Winter Maintenance products to ensure you and your customers make is safely through the winter.

A new generation parts washer/degreaser for multiple application and industries. It uses concentrated biologically rich microorganisms to digest the oily wash water to constantly regenerate the bath. Safe for the operator and the environment.

Environment And The Law

There are a number of laws and commitments that every business has to adhere to, it just depends on what type of business you are. For instance, if you’re a company who produces a lot of chemical waste which could be damaging to the environment, you’ll obviously be held to a lot stricter standard than an organisation, for example, delivering letters.The type of waste from old parts washers has to be disposed of in specially-managed waste facilities. It is not possible to dispose of hazardous liquid waste down drains or landfills in the UK.

Why You Should Buy This Biological Parts Washer?

There’s an ever-increasing need for us all to abide by the law and become more environmentally friendly and aware, It doesn’t use chemicals and solvents, It ensures the health and safety of the operator and well-being of the planet because the microorganisms constantly clean the bath. It also reduces and saves you money in waste disposal.

Industrial Biological Parts Washer

This advanced Industrial biological parts cleaner degreaser solution for washing and cleaning industrial and commercial parts and components is warmed to 38°C, an ideal cleaning temperature for cleaning and degreasing parts (and using boost mode, you can increase this to 43°C if required), it has around a 30L bath and a brush for cleaning thoroughly between the parts. It’s a large parts washer, yet compact and robust. The heated parts washer benefits from a secure lid to limit any evaporation.

The biological degreasing parts washer solution, along with a microorganism concentrated tablets provides you with around a month of cleaning, at which point you add another microorganism tablet. The microorganisms continue to clean the solution, breaking down the contaminants, so you don’t have to drain the bath like you would a regular old fashioned parts washer.

The solvent-free biological parts washer and degreaser is designed with the operator in mind, has a bath level indication and a very easy to drain, the integrated system included.

The microorganisms continue to clean the fluid and break down contaminants, so you don’t have to drain the bath like you would a regular old fashioned parts washer.

Where Can This Parts Cleaner Degreaser Be Used?

The advanced, new generation parts cleaner degreaser is designed for use with many industries and applications where thorough cleaning and degreasing of oils and contaminants of parts is required, here are a few:

Questions To Ask Yourself

Operators Health

Is it solvent free? Are there optimal hygiene and safety conditions? Remember that solvents affect health. Short-term effects of solvents can include; irritation of eyes, lungs skin, cause headache, nausea, dizziness and light-headedness.

Savings

Does It have consumable cost control and is it a low cost to run?Are there microorganisms that continue to clean the fluid, breaking down the contaminants so you don’t have to drain the bath like you would a regular old fashioned parts washer?

Environment

Does it minimise waste?Is it kind to the environment?

How To Buy The Parts Washer Degreaser

Finding the right environmentally friendly alternative to traditional solvent-based cleaners, couldn’t be easier,

Trade Shop Direct has always been at the front of offering great new products and support for our industrial and commercial trade customers and we are proud to say that we the UK reseller for the industrial biological parts washer and environmentally-friendly cleaning solutions. We have a great choice for the modern and savvy user of today.

We’re excited to now sell this new advanced biological parts cleaner and degreaser. Buy this Biological Parts Washer from us here and just leave the concentrated, biologically rich microorganisms, digest the oily wash water to constantly regenerate the bath in an environmentally-friendly way.

Millions of employees in the UK spend their entire working day standing. Although being active does, of course, provide many health benefits. Working in a job that requires standing on your feet all day can cause a number of issues too. Both sides of the story:-

On average, workers who stand all day exert 20% more energy compared to those who sit down, therefore becoming fitter than those who sit.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), an average of 131 million days are lost to sickness absence every year. 24% of these are due to back, leg or foot pain – the biggest cause of staff absences even over coughs, colds, stress, anxiety and depression! Now that’s a big number.

A study from Loughborough University found that it takes just 90 minutes for fatigue to set in and only 50 minutes for concentration to decrease because of it.

Some jobs are naturally more active and will require workers to stand for long periods of time. Whilst this may be unavoidable, there are a number of things that employers can do to help protect the health and wellbeing of their staff. Which is a legal responsibility.

As the name would suggest, anti-fatigue mats are designed to reduce fatigue caused by standing for long periods of time on a hard surface. They can help staff to feel more comfortable as well as increase concentration and efficiency whilst of course providing additional safety in the workplace.

They are ideally suited to customer service counters, reception desks, hotel concierge, bar areas, supermarket counters, workstations, despatch departments and many more. There are a number of benefits of investing in anti fatigue mats including:

Increases productivity

Quite simply, our bodies are not designed to stand for long periods of time which is why workers who are on their feet all day are usually a lot more tired than others.

Anti-fatigue mats can help to improve staff productivity in a number of ways. They improve concentration, insulate against cold floors and reduce energy use by relieving tension and supporting the muscles which are being used.

Reduces pain

Anti-fatigue mats are made up of small cushioned air domes which help to stimulate cyclic muscle contractions. This encourages foot and body movement, promotes posture changes and stimulates blood circulation.

They also make natural, frequent and minor changes to your standing position which helps to prevent joint stiffness. Furthermore, they reduce headaches by easing tension in the neck and shoulders.

Anti-fatigue Matting will help your workforce

Back pain is a common complaint amongst workers who are on their feet all day and anti-fatigue mats can really help to prevent this from happening in the first place as well as relieve existing symptoms. They do this by relieving pressure on the spine and reducing the strain on the muscles in the back.

Offers better health and safety protection

Anti-fatigue mats absorb the shock due caused by walking. This cushioning effect reduces foot pressure, fatigue and the likelihood of injuries occurring. Their textured or ribbed surface also helps to prevent slips which means that as an employer, you are less likely to have a claim made against you.

The cost of using the wrong tape on the floors at the NEC (and other venues such as Excel, Earls Court, Olympia, etc.) can be a massive cost to your company if you use the wrong one! Hence; there are approved tapes for the job of sticking down flooring. Essentially the tape that is approved is ‘more sticky’ on the carpet bonding side (top), than it is on the floor side (the bottom). This means that your carpet or carpet tile joints will hold fast, but the floor side will peel off easily when you break down your exhibition without damaging the floor. If you were to use a non-approved tape you would not only find it harder to remove the temporary flooring but it may also damage the underlying floor or leave residue on the floor. Both of which will result in a fine from the Exhibition Centre as well as a potential cleaning or repair bill, sometimes these can run into thousands of pounds. Trade Shop Direct have such a tape, approved for use at the NEC and other exhibition venues, it is also guaranteed to lift from the floor without leaving residue, you can also recycle it along with your temporary exhibition carpet. Used by all the large exhibition companies this tape gives the piece of mind that you are not going to have a fine come your way. You can find it here https://www.tradeshopdirect.co.uk/exhibition-carpet-tape-nec-approved-yellow-38mm

It is a legal requirement under the Oil Storage Regulations (OSR) and the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH) to ensure that measures are in place to reduce the risk of accidental pollution. If you store or transport oil, fuel or other hazardous materials that could pose a risk to life or the environment you will need to have adequate spill control measures in place.

Spill control kits are readily available a range can be found on Trade Shop Direct these can include kits for small spills up to larger kits and pallets with sumps. You need to ensure that your spill control capacity is enough to handle a complete spillage, just in case a container is full when the spill occurs.

In order to contain the spill you may need additional items such as booms or drain covers to ensure the spill does not enter the environment via the drainage network, containment is the second step in handling a spill, (the first being personal protection, you must use PPE adequate for the spillage you are handling) once contained you can work on step three, removal.

Trade Shop Direct has a wide range of spill control products to ensure that you can stock the correct items needed to control a spill in your specific environment, in addition we can supply training courses on how to handle spills so that you and your staff know exactly what to do should the worst happen. please give us a call for more information 01353 665141.

With the improvement in weather and the start for the bank holidays around the corner, if you are a biker you are probably getting your iron horse cleaned up and ready for a blast in the sun!

Have you thought about adding some adhesive grip material to your tank? It is possible to buy sheets/strips of material to stick to the sides or top of your tank (and other areas of your bike) so that you can get a better grip of the bike when cornering etc. Be warned though we have found a number of people buying skate board tape or even anti-slip floor tape as a cheaper alternative. DON’T! This tape is like sand paper and will soon wear through your expensive leathers with no mercy! If you are looking for a cost effective solution without the need for new leathers every month then take a look at www.tradeshopdirect.co.uk.

Used by a number of sidecar racers this tape has a textured surface without being abrasive, it is clear and can easily be cut to length and shapes if needed, it also has waterproof adhesive. The passenger obviously moves around a lot during a race, with this tape in key areas they are assured of grip even in wet conditions. Typically it is used on the sidecar floor, on the top of the bike rear and down the side where the hand holds are so that the inner arm can grip, and with the tape being clear it blends in to the bikes livery.

The tape is sold in lengths from 1m to 18m and is 50mm (2” in old money) wide and available online with next day delivery.

It is amazing how many types of disposable gloves there are on the market, Nitrile, latex, vinyl, powdered, powder free and then there are the colours, which do you choose? With luck this blog will help explain the differences and allow you to make an informed decision on which to buy for the job in hand (punn intended).

Material – there are 3 types of material used for disposable gloves, Nitrile, Latex and Vinyl, but what is the difference?

Nitrile, is a synthetic rubber that contains none of the proteins that are present in natural rubber eliminating protein sensitisation that can occur in the wearer causing skin conditions and allergic reactions.

Latex, provides the characteristics of natural rubber in terms of being soft, pliable and strong, with exceptional elasticity, however there is a percentage of the population who are allergic to Latex, so this should be a consideration if buying for a workforce.

Vinyl, as with Nitrile Vinyl gloves do not contain the natural rubber proteins. Vinyl gloves are a cost effective solution if gloves need to be frequently changed.

Powder or Powder Free? Most of the time this comes down to personal preference, however there are other factors to be aware of. A powder free glove will be more expensive as they are harder to manufacture compared to powdered gloves. The powdered gloves make it easier to donn the glove and remove them afterwards, it will also help with perspiration. However, the powder free ensure less risk of contamination within a food or chemical environment and also lessen the risk of alergic reactions within the wearer.

Acceptance Quality Limit (AQL) – Gloves are tested within the factory using with air or water to check for microscopic holes. The AQL value is generated as a percentage of the chance that they might fail. If 100 gloves are tested and 1.5% have microscopic holes, then the AQL rating is 1.5. An AQL of 4 means there is a 4% chance of microscopic holes, so the smaller the number the higher the quality fo the gloves, if you are in a medical or chemical industry you would look to purchase gloves with the lowest AQL value.

Colour – This usually comes down to personal preference, however when it comes to the food or catering industry blue is required as any gloves that make it into the food can easily be visually detected you don’t find may food stuffs that are blue!

Still none the wiser in which glove to choose? You find the each industry has pretty much adopted their own colour and material, so other than the option of powdered or not, and the AQL value, this should help.

Identify all employees who may be affected by the shutdown of equipment and inform them of the shutdown.

Ensure they know who is locking off the equipment and why.

Turn off the equipment.

Turn off the equipment using the operator controls

Follow the standard procedure for shutdown and ensure no-one is at risk when doing so.

Isolate all energy sources.

Ensure that ALL energy sources have been isolated.

Ensure that any secondary energy sources are isolated.

Ensure that ALL stored energy in the equipment is dissipated, e.g.

relieving trapped pressure.

releasing tension in sprints or block their movement.

block or brace parts that may fall due to gravity.

block parts in hydraulic and pneumatic systems that could move due to loss of pressure

bleeding, venting, flushing pipes with liquids or gases, ensuring appropriate precautions are taken against hazardous contents.

dissipating heat or cold and wear appropriate protective clothing.

Monitor and react to situations where stored energy can re-accumulate.

Lock off switches.

Lock off all switches or other energy controls (e.g. valves, circuit breakers) by using a suitable lock off device.

Only devices specifically designed for locking out should be used.

Each person working on the equipment should have their own personal padlock.

Each personal working on the equipment should place their padlock on the locking off device.

If the isolation device cannot support the number of padlocks needed, use a hasp or other suitable devices as necessary.

Apply purpose designed tags to the lockout to warn employees of the danger of the re-energising the equipment. These tags should be fit for purpose – durable, resistant to environmental conditions and attached securely to the lockout device.

Ensure the details of the tags are completed in full.

Test the equipment controls and circuits.

Make sure that all danger areas are clear from personnel and switch on the equipment.

Press ALL the start buttons or activation controls on the equipment to test the correct circuits have been isolated.

Test all of the circuits using the appropriate testing equipment to ensure that they have all been isolated.

Verify the main disconnect switch or circuit breaker can not be turned on.

Perform maintenance.

When preforming the maintenance of the equipment ensure that your actions will not reactivate the equipment.

If modifying or installing new equipment ensure that your actions will not reactivate the equipment.

If modifying or installing new equipment do not bypass the lockout.

When maintenance is complete ensure the correct reactivation procedure is followed to ensure the safety of both the person(s) working on the equipment and any employees that may be affected.